The Quicksilver Special Effects Blog

Secrecy and confidentiality often surrounds our work, especially on soaps such as Coronation Street and Hollyoaks, however our work on Red & Black, hosted by Ant & Dec took it to new levels when we were asked to blow up six drum of paint, a total of over 1300litres. While it is always important for explosive effects to work first time without misfires, the pressure is always more intense when there is no second chance.

Initial small scale trials were carried out with steel drums filed with water and the results were quite interesting. If the charge was too big the explosion split the drum and the water escaped sideways rather than being projected upwards as required, too small and there would not be enough force to eject the water. The ideal charge size resulted in the fluid being ejected and resulted in the empty drum collapsing inwards due to the negative pressure created when the water was expelled.

Once on site at a very muddy quarry near Cardiff a full scale trial was carried out with drums containing water only. This was very successful and allowed us to get on with the covert job or preparing 1320 litres of paint. This then had to be transported to the quarry cliff face without spilling a drop, we even had to avoid any being seen on our clothing. Have you ever tried using 10ltrs of paint at home without leaving a trace anywhere but where it is needed – brushes, clothes, trays etc?

To ensure reliability of firing the charges had been made specially for us with a waterproof coating and twin igniters which where connected to two independent firing systems. All of which resulted in six explosions of 220 litres of RED paint.

We don’t rely on luck, we create it through hard work and lots of testing and retesting.

The products used in creating this effect have now been added to our product range and will soon be available from our consumables website www.tvandfilmsupplies.co.uk or call us on 0161 320 7232 or 0800 016 2264